Maybe, Maybe She Likes Him Back
by TwelveTurquoise12
Summary: Love didn't really give Daisuke an answer, because she was in doubt herself. My take on what happens after the season. LoveXDaisuke. Sub pairings SetsunaXHayato, MikiXShun, InoriXKento. First fanfiction. Multichap fic. Please read and review! Temporary hiatus. I will come back! Reviews motivate me!
1. The New Boy

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize**

* * *

Daisuke had waited for his answer.

He waited.

Waited.

And waited patiently.

But the only thing she said was that she won't tell him.

He was surprised, disappointed and a bit angry. "Was that even an answer?" he muttered angrily to himself.

His best friends Yuki and Kento comforted him, saying, "I'm sure that she's just too embarrassed to admit that she likes you back!"

He had lit up at this possibility, until he came across that she might not like him romantically at all, but was too nice to break his heart.

Either she really liked him or had no feelings for him whatsoever. He sincerely hoped it wasn't the latter.

A week after Labyrinth's defeat, a new boy came to take Setsuna's place.

Daisuke didn't like Setsuna at first, because Love was paying too much attention to her and fawning over her. She was also smart and popular. But this new kid was even more popular than Setsuna.

His name was Akio. Meaning hero and manly. He was the tallest boy in the class, and he was muscular with blonde curls and blue eyes that made every girl swoon. His dimples that made him look cute. He was half French and half Japanese. He was also friendly, and made every girl's heart melt with his winning smile. In less than a day the whole form knew this "god". Two days later the whole school.

The moment he stepped into the classroom, all the girls gasped. He could get it that the single girls wanted him, but even Love's friend Yumi (who was dating a pretty handsome senior) had that look in her eyes. That starry, far away look, complete with that light blush.

And it was completely ridiculous that Love was under his spell too. She suddenly became the school tour guide and offered to show him around Yotsuba, and was so friendly to him.

What made it even worse was that the new kid sat at Setsuna's old place, so he sat right next to Love. And Daisuke could see everything that happened between them because he sat on Love's other side.

On the first day, the girls couldn't concentrate because of the gorgeous boy in the classroom. The teacher was frustrated about it, but Daisuke was more frustrated. Seeing Love help the kid with classwork was making him nauseous. And she was spending a lot of time with Akio, even more than she spent with Daisuke...He gritted his teeth. It was sickening to watch.

She wasn't like what she used to be, always laughing and carefree. One of Daisuke's favourite things about Love was her ability to stay optimistic even in bad times. But now she's constantly blushing and stuttering. It was really strange. And he was sure Akio was behind all of it.

At lunch break, when Love dragged Akio out of the classroom to give him a tour, Daisuke decided that the boy must be dealt with immediately.

"What is wrong with Love?! She's acting strange!" he roared out to nobody in particular. But everyone heard.

"Yeah, that boy is making every girl fall in love with him! It's not fair!" a boy yelled.

Daisuke suddenly felt his heart plummet when he wondered if Love liked Akio.

Boys from all over the classroom all complained about the new kid. "How dare he flirt with her?" "I'll like him to see what I can really do!" "Let's just punch him!"

At this moment, Love returned, dragging Akio behind her excitedly. The classroom went silent immediately.

"What?" Love asked, confused, tilting her head.

The class resumed to what they were doing before. Meanwhile Daisuke was tearing a piece of paper he found randomly, letting out his anger.

He grunted and slammed his hand on his desk. The small pieces of paper jumped up and fluttered down like delicate feathers.

 _Hold it, dude._ Daisuke scolded himself. _She's just being nice because she_ is _nice and he's a new kid. Nothing romantic in there._

But that did not stop him from buying a huge pack of doughnuts after school.

"Stress eating again?" Kento asked dubiously, looking at the monstrous pile of doughnuts.

Daisuke didn't answer, his mouth stuffed with doughnuts.

"That's one thing you and Momozono have in common," Yuki muttered. "Stress eating doughnuts."

Next day, Daisuke had to bear up with the chatter, Love talking to Akio, Akio's stunning smile, and the girls swooning. And then becoming a teacher's pet, answering all the questions correct and beating everyone in sports. Every time Love talked to Akio, he gritted his teeth and thought of happy stuff to distract him. _Doughnuts!_ Daisuke yelled to himself. _Think of the delicious doughnuts, with sweet chocolate icing and sprinkles…_

But even that couldn't stop him from being angry, or make him stop liking Love. She's the most beautiful girl Daisuke has ever seen (yes, he says that to annoy his sister), with big deep pink eyes that light up when she's happy, her two pigtails swinging from side to side. But the most beautiful thing about her was her smile, which seemed like it could light up the whole world.

What happened on day three was what the rest of the class called drama.

And it was one of Daisuke's and Love's friendly arguments. Again.

"Hey! I've saved you a lot more than you saving me!"

Daisuke huffed. "What do you mean 'a lot more'? I mean, I-"

"I saved you during that amusement park attack, and that baseball game, AND that Shisa from Okinawa, also I freed you from Labyrinth's control! You even said I saved you back in Okinawa!" Love shot back. "Maybe you didn't remember, but I saved you when the school turned into a haunted house! You could have _died_!"

"And you could have died drowning!" Daisuke replied, with equal amount of temper. "I saved you in Okinawa!"

"Yeah, but that was after I saved you from the monster attack! I could've died saving you!"

"But I still got you out of the haunted house," Daisuke said stubbornly.

Love sighed. "Ugh, you could just let me go and then I can transform! You were so _overprotective_!"

Yuki and Kento smirked.

"Well you can just tell me you're Pretty Cure."

"...but Tarte told me not to tell anyone…"

"I can keep your secrets!"

Love bit her lip. It was true that Daisuke can keep her secrets when she didn't want to tell the girls. Like the time when she told him she got jealous of Miki and her fashion sense…

"Yeah, but-"

"Will you two shut up!" Yuki broke in, annoyed by their bickering, no matter how amusing it was. Apparently it was the wrong moment as both Daisuke and Love shot angry glares at him. He backed away nervously.

The two continued to argue. "I saved your sister too! You didn't do anything!"

"Well it's not like I was at every concert she hosted." Daisuke argued.

"Don't you two realize this is very childish?" Kento asked. The duo ignored him.

"I still don't get it why they're friends," Yuki said with a yawn.

Meanwhile, Daisuke just said something that made Love look like she was going to punch him. She yelled at him, "HOW DARE YOU-"

She cut herself off suddenly. Perplexed, Daisuke looked around. Then he sighed."Not that Blondie!"

Akio walked towards his seat calmly with girls screaming behind him. "Good morning," he winked at Love, making her blush furiously. "O-oh, g-good morning," she stammered. As he sat down, all the girls swarmed around him, including Love, who had forgotten her argument with Daisuke.

Daisuke thumped his fist on the table angrily. "That kid is making Love act weird! She's not like that! I'll do anything to make her back to normal!"

"Well dude, sorry to break the news to you, but I think she likes Akio. He's not that bad. " Yuki said offhandedly. Then he realized his mistake as Daisuke lowered his head. "Ah, s-sorry, I didn't mean to..."

He was interrupted by Love saying excitedly somewhere in the crowd of girls, "Hey Akio! You can meet my friends too! I'm sure they'll like you!"

Both Yuki and Kento froze.

"Miki," Yuki whispered, looking scared.

"Miss Yamabuki," Kento gulped.

They turned to Daisuke.

"We're with you. Anything to get that boy outta the way."

"Good."

* * *

 **A/N: This is my first fanfiction, so is it good? Bad? Spelling mistakes? Grammer mistakes? Please give me your feedback and please review.**


	2. Alliance

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize**

* * *

Daisuke, Yuki and Kento formed a trio to keep their girls from liking Akio.

"But… he's actually really nice, you can't stop people from liking him…" Kento pointed out.

"So the point is to find out who he likes," Yuki said. "When he likes someone else then our girls are out of the woods."

All three of them were hidden in the bushes in the clearing where the doughnut café was. They were spying on Love, Miki, Inori and Akio.

"Look! Miki is blushing I repeat _Miki is blushing_!" Yuki hissed very loudly.

"Sh!" Daisuke and Kento whispered, the former clamping a hand over Yuki's mouth. Yuki deflated slightly. "Aw man…" Then his eyes widened. "Mmm mhmm!"

"What?" Daisuke glared at his friend, a bit annoyed. He was studying Love's actions very closely.

He and Kento removed their hands. Yuki said, "Love is staring at Akio!"

"No waay…" Daisuke muttered, but narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw that it was true. Then he and Yuki glared at Kento.

"You lucky bastard, Inori isn't showing any interest in him…" Yuki grumbled.

Kento blushed. "Uh, you can't tell yet."

* * *

Meanwhile Love was glad that her friends seemed to like Akio. Although she felt slightly annoyed when Akio kept looking at Miki.

She blushed immediately. _Ugh not a schoolgirl crush._ She laughed nervously inside at her own comment. _But I am a schoolgirl after all… but I don't have a crush! No I don't!_

No matter how hard Love tried to convince herself, Akio _was_ a bit attractive…

Well maybe not just a bit, but she wasn't going to admit it.

As she look for something to distract herself, something caught her eye.

In a sudden red flash, three familiar silhouettes appeared.

* * *

"Whoa!" Yuki screamed. "It's a really bright flash!"

Daisuke and Kento didn't even bother to cover his mouth. "Wow… what _is_ that?" Daisuke gaped.

"The red Cure, Cure Passion has the ability to teleport." Kento said, adjusting his glasses slightly. "And because Setsuna is Cure Passion I believe she came here."

"Neeeerd." Yuki drawled, rolling his eyes. "Whatever, I'm checking that out!"

"Wait!" Daisuke and Kento yelled, scrambling out of the bushes, sending leaves fluttering.

The trio disappeared from the bushes and reappeared on the edge of the clearing. Hastily brushing leaves off, they hurried to the girls and the newcomers.

* * *

"Hey! Love!"

"Ah, Setsuna!"

The sisters greeted each other. Behind Setsuna were her partners Hayato and Shun. All three of them were looking slightly grim as they walked to the girls' table. Hayato ran a hand through his short blond hair, frowning.

"What's up?" Miki asked, noticing their faces.

"Did something happen?" Inori asked worriedly, her eyes big.

"First thing first," Hayato frowned, his blue eyes trained on Akio. "Who is that dude?"

Shun and Setsuna looked between Akio and Hayato and smiled. They could already sense conflict.

The two boys sized each other up. Everybody noticed their similarities, both blond, both had blue eyes, both were muscular and handsome. Except that an arrogant smirk was on Hayato's face, Akio was smiling politely.

"He's Akio, the new kid at school." Love introduced quickly.

"Ohh." the three members of Labyrinth drawled together.

"Excuse me, but I haven't met you before." Akio asked. His tone was polite,he was smiling, but his eyes implied something else. He was threatening them, especially Hayato, to respect him.

"We three are from Labyrinth." Hayato answered too quickly. Akio's eyebrows quirked up.

"Labyrinth? As in the _bad guys_?"

Setsuna was quick to defend Labyrinth. "We used to be controlled under Moebius, but the Pretty Cure defeated him and set us free." Her tone was a bit sharp, there was something about Akio that rubbed the wrong way with her. Maybe it was that he _seemed_ pretty nice but then, Setsuna knew better. She had been nice to Love, but then she betrayed her trust.

Akio looked at them suspiciously.

"They're on our side." Miki smiled. Setsuna felt a wave of relief spread over her. _Thank you Miki!_

"So, what happened?" Love asked, voice slightly muffled because she just took a bite of her doughnut.

Shun stared at them seriously. "We believe that the Nakewamekes are returning."

Love's eyes widened in shock. Then she promptly choked on her doughnut, coughing continuously. Inori patted her back and Miki handed her a cup of water. Love nodded her thanks and drank the water in one gulp, the cool liquid soothing her throat. But Miki and Inori noticed a slight tremor in her hand.

When Love calmed down, she took a deep breath and shrieked, "So my mother's going to turn into some monster _again_?!" That was one of the particularly horrible monsters to Love.

"That was a Sorewatse." Shun said. "They're different from Nakewamekes."

"Thank goodness!" Love yelled cheerfully. Miki, Inori and Setsuna shared a glance. Love sure changed mood quickly. But her happy face soon darkened.

Everybody noticed this change. Shun was annoyed yet amused. _How can a human change moods this quick? I'll have to research about it._

"So… they're all returning?"

Shun pulled out his phone. "According to the info we found, the data of the Nakewamekes we created was stored in a secret base no one knew about. The data tried to break out and recreate the Nakewamekes, but we managed to stop them. But our defenses won't last long, they will break out eventually, and they might be even stronger."

"When will they appear? Where will they appear?" Inori asked anxiously.

"Mostly in Clover Town." Hayato said. "Because the old fortune telling mansion is a portal to Labyrinth, and the Nakewamekes will attack the nearest town. And they can appear anytime."

Love sighed. "Well I guess it can't be helped…" She narrowed her eyes suddenly. "But some Nakewamekes weren't created in Clover Town."

"So…?" Hayato asked, confused.

"For example, there was one when we went to the training camp by the beach. There was a Nakewameke. And also there was one in Okinawa! Were you guys stalking us?" Love yelled.

"That's off the topic…" Miki said quietly, but Love didn't notice.

Shun and Setsuna glanced at each other, before staring at Hayato together. The young man gave them an expression that said _what?_

"Oh, we weren't stalking you…" Shun began.

"Only a certain somebody liked to take breaks from creating monsters…" Setsuna continued smoothly. Hayato's face turned red. "Alright! It was boring in the mansion."

"You were slacking off." Setsuna mock glared at Hayato, leaning close to him,but she was actually amused.

"Shaddup." Hayato grumbled. He was feeling slightly embarrassed that Setsuna was pretty close to him.

"It was a coincidence?" Inori asked.

"I guess so." Miki answered.

Meanwhile, Akio was feeling incredibly awkward at this conversation that didn't include him. He had tried to talk to Miki, but that dark grey haired boy glared at him so intensely with his cold green eyes that he gave up. He looked around and saw three familiar boys standing nervously on the edge of the clearing.

Akio sized them up. Kento, the tallest and the quietest of the trio. The heir to a rich company. He was pretty nice and he and Akio had small talk.

Yuki, the shortest. Tended to get over dramatic and over excited. Other than that, Akio was okay with his personality.

Then it was Daisuke. He was too bold and blunt. And slightly arrogant. Akio thought he was insufferable and annoying. He wondered how could Love be friends with him.

 _Well,_ he thought. _If they argue every day, their "friendship" must be very fragile._

How wrong he was.

* * *

"Are we going to butt in or not?" Yuki asked bluntly.

"Nah, we just wait for Love to automatically introduce us." Daisuke said, unconcerned.

"Reall-" Kento began, but he was interrupted by Love waving at them, "Hey, you three are here too! Come join us!"

Daisuke gave his friends a smug smirk that said _see?_ and they all walked to the girls.

"The Nakewamekes are returning!" Love announced.

"You mean the monsters?" Daisuke yelled, alarmed.

"Yes!" Love yelled, with equal passion, thumping her fists on the table.

"Well, I guess my sister is going to need more bodyguards."

"Yeah! Last time Labyrinth was targeting her!"

Kento saw Akio glaring in their direction. _Someone's jealous…_ he thought.

"Hey, are you guys from Labyrinth?" Yuki saw Shun and Hayato and asked them. They nodded.

Shun was looking at their little gathering, his eyes capturing every detail.

Love and Daisuke were talking, Akio was frowning at the duo, Hayato was looking at Setsuna, who was chatting with Inori, whom Kento was staring at. Miki, a bit left out, tried to talk with Yuki, who was overjoyed. Shun felt a sudden urge to strangle him, although the urge to strangle Akio was bigger. This boy wasn't even tall or handsome. He wasn't competition.

"Hey, it's the boy again!" Hayato suddenly said, staring at Daisuke.

"Hmm?" Daisuke turned around, his brown eyes scanning Hayato. He thought that he looked vaguely familiar. "Have we met before?"

Hayato would dearly like to say "You're that kid Cure Peach saves every time." but he wasn't _that_ rude. Instead, he said, "You're Cure Peach's friend, right?"

"Yeah…" the boy still looked at Hayato with confusion and suspect. "But I still don't know who you are, apart that you are from Labyrinth." Love had decided to tell Daisuke everything about the Cures and Moebius after the final battle.

"Oh wait," Hayato said, reaching for a doughnut. "Everytime we see each other you're either kidnapped, unconscious, or being saved by Cure Peach. So that's why you don't know me." After a pause, Hayato decided to be blunt and added, "You and Cure Peach look so cute together!"

Daisuke's face was slightly red. Yuki and Kento snickered. Miki covered a hand over her mouth to stop her from laughing out loud, Inori giggled delicately. Akio remained stony-faced.

Love's face was also slightly red, almost around the same shade as Daisuke's. Their friends noticed this similarity and smirked at them.

In order to change topic, Love quickly and hastily introduced the two. "Chinen Daisuke," she said, gesturing to said boy. "Nishi Hayato." She gestured to Hayato. "There. Now you're introduced!"

The two stared into each other's eyes silently for a moment before Yuki said, "Hey, Akio's gone."

Daisuke turned around and saw that he _was_ gone. _Good._

Setsuna decided to chat with the other girls. Meanwhile, Daisuke bought some doughnuts and sat down at a table, Yuki and Kento following him, leaving Hayato and Shun standing awkwardly.

"Maybe we should all go back-" Shun said, stepping forward and reaching for Setsuna. Hayato rolled his eyes, grabbed Shun's arm and pulled him back easily. "Let's give her time to relax with her friends."

"We have work to do." Shun said cooly. Hayato laughed, "Come on! What's that saying, _a lot of work and little play makes Jack a dull boy_?"

"The correct saying is, _all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy._ " Shun corrected Hayato without even looking at him. "Besides, I know you have a soft spot for Setsuna. Don't spoil her."

"Who said I have a soft spot for her?" Hayato hissed angrily. Then he grinned. "Ha, I know you have a soft spot for Cure Berry too…"

A light blush filled Shun's normally pale cheeks. "I-I d-don't." He stuttered, and mentally cursed himself. _I don't stutter! That would completely ruin my "cool and calm" demeanor!_

"I'm telling everyone." Hayato smirked. In a much higher voice than usual, he whined, "Aw, the little boy here has a crush on Miki…"

"Shut up!" Shun yelled, swiftly covering Hayato's mouth. "And I'm not a little boy!"

"I am older than you." Hayato managed to get out.

"By two years." Shun sighed and turned away from Hayato, arms crossed over his chest. Hayato was grinning like mad.

"I'm going over the other boys." Shun announced. Hayato trailed after him.

Meanwhile Yuki was whining about how Miki seemed to like Akio.

"Argh… my life is _ruined_!" Yuki wailed.

Daisuke stared at him disapprovingly. "Man up! Don't collapse just because of a _girl_!"

"So you say…" Yuki and Kento mumbled under their breaths. But Daisuke heard and snapped, "What?"

Yuki and Kento shared a nervous glance. "Uh…"

Daisuke continued to glare at them dangerously. The other boys felt a shiver down their spines.

"It's just that…" Yuki began carefully. "Last time you had a big fight with Love, you kinda…"

"...got depressed…?" Kento finished uncertainly. "I mean, you just ignored everyone."

If looks could kill, Yuki and Kento would have two big holes in their heads. Daisuke was glaring daggers at them. The other boys sensed a warning aurora in the air and quickly changed the topic.

"Uh... never mind."

"Ignore what we said earlier!"

Fortunately something else took Daisuke's attention. "Hey, it's the Labyrinth dudes!"

"Hello." Kento said politely. Yuki nodded, still subdued.

"I'm declaring war on Blondie!" Hayato yelled suddenly, banging his fist on the table loudly. "There can be only _one_ exceedingly handsome and muscular blond in the world!" he declared.

Everybody stared at him. Yuki was blinking quickly like an owl.

Hayato noticed the awkward silence. "Well, in Clover Town at least."

Everybody still stared at him. Shun gave him a glare which Hayato briefly translated as _shut up don't embarrass me._

"Eh, whatever." Hayato reached for the doughnut bag, which Daisuke quickly whisked away with a scowl. Hayato huffled.

"Stop behaving like a kid, Hayato." Shun raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well you should behave like a man then," Hayato countered. "Tell Miki that you like her!"

A silence followed his words. Daisuke, Yuki and Kento blinked and stared at Hayato. Then in unison, their attention turned to Shun.

Shun had to admit that it was a bit creepy, to have three pairs of unblinking eyes focusing on him. Yuki was giving him a killer stare.

"Did I saw something wrong?" Hayato asked innocently.

Oh. Shun just remembered that the short and bald kid had a crush on Miki. He wanted to roll his eyes. _Why would Miki chose someone like… that? So unsophisticated!_

"You like her too!" Yuki yelled accusingly, pointing at Shun. Daisuke quickly put a hand on the boy's shoulder in order to calm him down. "Er, excuse my friend." Daisuke laughed awkwardly.

Shun narrowed his eyes, then he sighed. "Erm, boy, I would like to offer you an alliance."

Silence. "Alliance?"

Shun resisted the urge to facepalm. Even if that boy _was_ stupid he should know the meaning of the word! "Need I explain it to you?" he asked dryly.

"No! It's just… why?" Yuki frowned at Shun.

"Because you hate that blond, and I don't like him too. Even though we _ahem_ take an interest in the same girl, you know the saying: _the enemy of my enemy is my friend._ So when we get rid of Akio we can take the matter between ourselves. We can discuss that later." Shun explained. He purposely left out the part when he compared Yuki to Akio, thinking Yuki wasn't competition. "Deal?" he reached out his hand.

"Ooh, you admitted it!" Hayato said excitedly. That was apparently the only thing Hayato heard.

"Deal." Yuki stared at Shun in the eye and shook his hand firmly, although the others thought it was more like a grip. In an attempt to make himself more manly, he gritted his teeth and said, "Touch her and you'll die."

Shun laughed, his green eyes boring into Yuki. "Same to you."

"Good. Another one." Daisuke grinned. When he saw Shun and Hayato's confusion, he explained, "Kento, Yuki and I formed a gang to get rid of Akio. Cause he's taking away our...umm… crushes. Now you're in, that makes four of us."

"Ookay." Shun was beginning to regret his decision as he was now in the same gang as two idiots. As far as he knew, the taller one (was Kento his name?) was a bit calmer and sensible.

"I'm in too!" Hayato yelled. "I hate him!" And without offering any explanation, he sat down on one of the chairs, joining the gang.

 _Great._ Shun thought. _Three idiots._

Daisuke looked pleased. Even Kento looked excited. Hayato was grinning. Shun had a small smile on his face.

"Akio won't even stand a chance against all 5 of us!" Yuki cheered.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks to** ** _Cool_** **for your suggestion. Originally, they weren't going to be in the gang. But now, I think they can fit in. Thanks a lot anyway!**

 **Ideas for oneshots concerning any ship are welcome! Please read and review!**


	3. A Bad Hair Day

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize**

* * *

"I am _so_ tired!" Love cried, flopping down on one of the seats of the doughnut café. Inori pushed a box full of doughnuts to Love tentatively, she grabbed one and shoved it inside her mouth.

"Good work everyone," Miyuki smiled. "You didn't slack off after the dance competition."

"We love dancing," Miki said, taking a gulp of water. "So we put a lot of effort into it."

There was a short silence as the four of them refreshed themselves. "Mmm! This doughnut is delicious!" Love smiled widely.

"Oh, yeah." Miyuki remembered something. "I'll like to invite all of you to my house for dinner tomorrow. To celebrate winning the dance competition."

"Ehh?!" all three of them cried, and Love leaned forward excitedly, eyes as big as saucers. "Really?"

"Sure," Miyuki said. "And it would be great if Setsuna can come too."

"I must be dreaming…" Love muttered, but her eyes were shining with delight. Despite having known Miyuki for a year in person, she still felt in awe of her idol. Then something clicked in her mind. "Wait, so Daisuke lives there too!"

Miyuki nodded. "I talked to him about it and he's fine with it." The corners of her lips turned up when she remembered how she persuaded Daisuke…

 _Flashback_

" _Daisuke?"_

" _Mmm." the boy replied, sprawled across the sofa._

" _I'm going to invite someone over for dinner, can you-"_

" _Nope." he said abruptly, his eyes glued to the television screen._

 _Miyuki narrowed her eyes. "I haven't even told you what I want you to do. And actually I'm gonna invite Love and the others to celebrate their victory in the dance competition."_

" _Yeah yeah…" Daisuke waved a dismissive hand. He froze suddenly. "Wait WHAT?"_

 _Miyuki smirked. She wasn't oblivious. "Soo…" she said, lowering her voice. "Are you fine with that?"_

 _She watched in satisfaction as her brother's face turned red. He spluttered and fidgeted. "Ugh fine!" he finally spat. "Don't really have a choice anyway."_

" _Good. So will you cook for us, huh Daisuke?"_

" _No WAY! Do it yourself, lazy bones!"_

" _Well," Miyuki grinned slyly. "I read this book which said girls generally find boys who can cook well more attractive… isn't that wonderful?"_

" _Shaddup!" Daisuke yelled, as red as a tomato. He grabbed a cushion and threw it at Miyuki, who laughed and ducked. He paused and thought for a while, face still red. "You know what, I'll help with the cooking." He saw his sister about to response. "Only THIS time!"_

" _Whatever you say Daisuke. Whatever you say."_

 _End of flashback_

"Now you think of it…" Love narrowed her eyes. "He never told me where he lived. And we've been friends for so long!" she pouted.

"You can't blame him actually," Miyuki laughed awkwardly. "I told him not to when I became a famous dancer, to stop those paparazzi from interfering with our lives."

"I still don't believe we're going to Miyuki's house." Inori beamed.

"It must be really elegant!" Miki sighed.

Then they saw Miyuki staring at them. "Actually it's also a bit messy since my brother lives there, but I'll tell him to tidy up."

"Whatever! I don't care!" Love screamed, super hyper.

* * *

"You actually invited a girl to your house?" Yuki nearly screamed.

"That's a huge step," Kento said, in awe. "Nearly to the meet-the-parents step. I think you beat Akio to this one."

"No!" Daisuke yelled, frantically defending himself. "I don't have a girlfriend! And besides, my _sister_ invited them, not _me_!" He crossed his arms, face flushed.

Both Yuki and Kento looked a bit disappointed. "He said 'them', not 'her'..."

"Still, nice one Daisuke," Yuki said. "You can cook pretty well, that will probably impress Momozono. Only she's good at cooking too…"

"Who said I was talking about Love?" Daisuke snapped.

"Who else then?" Kento asked, grinning. "You've liked her for years."

Daisuke ignored him, face still red.

* * *

"I've got a text from Love," Setsuna said when she checked her phone. Her partners Hayato and Shun were busy organising papers.

"What did she say?" Shun asked calmly.

"She said Miyuki invited her to dinner… she's asking me if I would like to go to."

"If you want, then go," Hayato said matter of factly. "I can do your bit."

Setsuna looked uneasily at the young man munching doughnuts while looking at papers, spraying crumbs on them. Then she turned her sights on Shun, diligently writing something on the papers with a feather quill. He always had great taste.

"Yes… I will go. And Shun, do my part please?"

This annoyed Hayato immensely. "So you don't trust me now?" he grumbled.

"No, it's just…" Setsuna laughed awkwardly. "I think my work suits Shun more than you…"

Hayato narrowed his eyes and crammed another doughnut into his mouth. "Whatever."

He watched somewhat jealousy as Shun and Setsuna talked about the government, law, population needs and such. Labyrinth had turned into a republic, with Setsuna as the president, Hayato and Shun as vice president. _Those two have so much to talk about,_ Hayato thought. _I mean, I'm no good at the political stuff._

He got more and more annoyed as the two talked on. When it got to the point when Setsuna ruffled Shun's hair teasingly, Hayato muttered about "going on a break" and stomped out.

Shun noticed Hayato was grumpy the whole day.

* * *

Next day, Miyuki picked up the four girls and lead them to her house. Love was elated, skipping the whole way.

"You're sure full of energy," Miki smiled.

"Of course!" Love cried hysterically. "I'm going to Miyuki's home. _I'm going to Miyuki's home!_ " She clasped her hands together. "Ah, this is so awesome!"

"To think that you might have never been a Pretty Cure if your mother didn't have a ticket." Inori smiled.

When they reached the house, Miyuki turned the lock and stepped in. The others followed.

"Wow!" they all gasped in excitement. It wasn't as homely as Love's home, but there _was_ an elegant touch to it, with the leather sofa and the bookcase and the coffee table.

A clanging came from the kitchen. Love stopped gaping at the house and ran to the kitchen, sticking her head in. "Eh Daisuke, I didn't know you could cook!"

"Of course!" the boy replied, his back to the girl as he fried something. "Won't survive if I can't cook, with my parents always on a business trip and my sister coming home late."

"Smells wonderful!" Love said cheerfully and walked out.

Later all five of them sat on the table, enjoying the food.

"Mmm this is delicious!" Love garbled with her mouth full. She swallowed. "Daisuke, this tastes fantastic!"

"Thanks," Daisuke replied, cheeks slightly pink. Miyuki took note of this and smiled to herself. _Those two are so cute!_

At first there was only polite conversation. Until-

"Why did you make carrots?" Love pouted at Daisuke. Both she and the boy had to ability to turn make into 5-year-olds when they argue with each other. "You know I _despise_ them!"

"Yeah but I'm fine with them!" Daisuke retorted. "You're the one who has a problem."

"What's up with this attitude?" the girl screeched.

"If you don't like it, then don't eat it." He crossed his arms arrogantly. Actually he knew Love hated carrots, but usually he made that particular dish with carrots. He was also a bit hurt that Love didn't like his cooking… even if it was only because of her dislike of carrots.

"Is that what happens every day?" Miyuki asked, embarrassed for them.

"Yup," Miki, Inori and Setsuna answered in unison.

Miyuki sighed, looking at the duo arguing. "I was so similar to Love when I was younger. So full of energy, so optimistic. Sometimes I really wish she was my younger sister."

All four girls fell silent, the only sound being Love and Daisuke yelling, oblivious to them. Then suddenly Setsuna choked.

"Are you okay?" Inori asked worriedly. Setsuna swallowed, waving a hand. "I'm fine." she said. "Nothing, really," she said hastily when she saw the other girls' concerned faces. "Just about something Miyuki said, about Love being Miyuki's sister…"

Both Miki and Miyuki realized it at the same time. Miki took a deep breath, Miyuki blushed. "I-I didn't mean it like that."

Love just yelled at Daisuke loudly, and Miki, Setsuna and Miyuki flinched.

"What?" Inori asked innocently. Miki sighed to herself. Buki was really too innocent.

Miki leaned towards Inori, whispering, "If Love marries Daisuke then she will be Miyuki's sister-in-law…"

Inori gasped. "Really? Then Setsuna will also be…" she trailed off. Love and Daisuke, apparently ending their argument, looked quizzically at them.

"Did something happen?" Love asked.

"Nothing," the girls chorused.

But they still couldn't get the image of Love marrying Daisuke out of their minds.

After dinner, the girls helped to clean up. Then they took a look at the photos pasted on the wall of the living room.

"So this is how Miyuki's hair used to look like," Miki pointed at a photo of a younger Miyuki. She had long brown hair, the same shade as Daisuke's.

"Wow!" Love cried, pushing her face close to the photo. "Miyuki is _sooooo_ pretty!"

"You don't actually think I was born with pink hair, did you?" Miyuki raised an eyebrow.

"Miyuki, you used to own a dog?" Inori asked, her eyes shimmering.

"Yes," the pink-haired girl replied. "But unfortunately, he died a few years ago…"

"Oh... I'm sorry," Inori said solemnly. "But then, he must have been really cute!" She looked at a photo of the dog.

As Inori and Miyuki talked about dogs and pets, Love took interest in photos of the Chinen siblings' childhood.

 _Daisuke was really adorable as a kid,_ Love smiled fondly. Then she noticed the others staring at her.

"I-I didn't say that out loud, did I?" she stammered.

Miyuki and Miki smirked, while Inori and Setsuna gave an awkward laugh.

With a start, Love noticed that Daisuke was glaring at her. She mentally reviewed what she did earlier, she didn't mean to offend him.

"Hey, so you don't think I'm cute now, huh?" Daisuke narrowed his eyes.

Love squealed and backed away. She blushed when she thought of "cute" and "Daisuke" in the same sentence. _Sometimes he can be_ kinda _cute… or really cute…_ But that was way too embarrassing! "Hey you!" she screamed, grabbing a cushion and whacking him repeatedly on the head.

"Ha ha…" Miki, Inori and Miyuki sweatdropped.

"This is so awkward." Miyuki whispered to the other girls.

"I know." Setsuna muttered.

When Love finally let go of Daisuke, he groaned and massaged his head. "Ouch! You must be insane!" Love walked smugly off.

Miyuki pulled Daisuke over. "That was really bad flirting, you know." she whispered.

"I wasn't _trying_!" Daisuke whined like a kid.

"Ha," Miyuki laughed disbelievingly. Daisuke glared at her. "No really, I wasn't!"

Love honestly thought that Daisuke was a cute kid. She blushed slightly whenever she thought about a cute Daisuke now. _I will never look at him the same way again!_ Love moaned to herself. Suddenly she saw a picture of a younger herself and Daisuke. She was giving a gap-toothed smile, Daisuke was grinning widely. It was all Love could do to keep herself from cooing over the photo.

 _And that was a time when we were around the same height…_ Love smiled fondly.

Setsuna smiled when she looked at the photos. "I really envy you all, you have brilliant childhoods."

"Setsuna, what was life in Labyrinth like?" Miki asked.

Setsuna shuddered. "It was very dull and organized. Everything was for Moebius. No playtime, no laughs, no smiles."

"That must be horrible!" Love gasped sympathetically.

"Yes, it was." Setsuna agreed. She stared longingly at the photo Love had been looking at earlier.

Daisuke was feeling a bit left out with the girls talking among themselves. Until he heard his sister mention him.

"Love, I thought you looked familiar when I first saw you at the concert." Miyuki said. "It took me some time to realize that you were the girl who was always dragging Daisuke home when he got lost."

"Eh?" Everybody said, Love and Daisuke saying especially loudly.

"Yeah." Miyuki nodded slightly. "Daisuke would run out to play when we first moved to Clover Town, but he would always get lost. Then Love you would help him to know his way back. It's actually kinda funny."

"I don't remember that," Love said after a short silence.

"I do." Daisuke said, having a vague recollection of a younger Love yelling at him, "You got lost again?" "You really can't remember anything?" he teased Love.

"Hey! Now what's up with that attitude?" Love screamed. The duo began to have one of their friendly arguments.

The other girls watched awkwardly, but Miyuki was smiling fondly. _Ah, young love_ , she thought.

* * *

"I am _dead tired_!" Hayato yawned, back in Labyrinth's headquarters.

Shun didn't even bother to look up, busy from his work. "I have to do Setsuna's part too, you only have to do yours, and you're already complaining?"

"I don't want to care about these stuff," Hayato grumbled, putting his arms behind his head as he leaned back in his chair. "Reforming Labyrinth is so hard!"

"Of course it's going to be hard," Shun snapped, typing rapidly in his laptop. "We already gave you the easier stuff! You're just going to be designing houses! I'm in charge of farming and statistics and business, while Setsuna inspires people and give them jobs. All three of us create laws! You're designing _houses_."

"And also in charge of teaching everyone to cook." Hayato muttered. Setsuna learned cooking from Love's mother, Hayato had a natural talent for cooking, while Shun was terrible at cooking. He didn't understand it. After a few unsuccessful attempts to fry an egg, Shun gave up. Setsuna and Hayato had a good laugh about it, since that was one of the few things Shun was bad at.

"Come on, just do your work." Shun ordered, his eyes still glued to the screen of his laptop. Throughout the whole conversation, Shun hadn't even looked at Hayato.

For the next couple of minutes, Hayato paced forwards and backwards, peered out of the window, poured himself a cup of tea, ate doughnuts, and went back to pacing. Shun was gradually getting more and more irritated, and finally, he reached his limit and snapped loudly, "Stop annoying me."

Hayato stopped pacing. Shun enjoyed a few seconds of absolute silence, before Hayato started drumming the table with his fingers. Shun scowled at the screen, before groaning, "Look, I know you're usually energized, but you're acting particularly restless tonight." Then he voiced his suspicions which he had been wondering for quite some time, "Is it because Setsuna is not here?"

"No." Hayato snapped too quickly, his face all red. Shun raised an eyebrow, before remembering Hayato couldn't see him and he spun around on his computer chair, green eyes fixing on Hayato. Hayato hid his red face behind a book, and Shun smirked when he saw the title of the book, _How to Flirt With a Girl_. Shun glanced at the books piled up next to him, all bearing titles like _Dating for Dummies, Understanding Girls_ , and _The Perfect Way to Find a Date._ Shun snorted, only an idiot like Hayato would need dating advice. But then, at least Hayato was finally reading…

"I'm going to check on Setsuna." Hayato said suddenly, putting his book down.

"No." Shun replied curtly, his hand gripped firmly on Hayato's arm. "We shouldn't bother her when she should be spending time with her friends."

"Well, we're her friends, aren't we?" Hayato exclaimed angrily, ripping his arm out of Shun's grip. Shun had to give him credit- he _was_ strong.

"You know what I mean." Shun sighed.

"What happens if a Nakewameke breaks out?" Hayato panicked. "Is she going to be fine?" He began pacing again, which irritated Shun immensely.

"She's with the other Cures. They're going to be fine." Shun waved dismissively. "Besides, I haven't seen you panic ever since Setsuna and I stole your not-so-secret hoard of doughnuts…"

"Those were special doughnuts!" Hayato pouted. "They were _limited_!" He started drumming his fingers on the table. Shun felt like a vein was going to burst sooner or later.

"Limited or not, will you _just do your work_?!"

Both Shun and Hayato were surprised at Shun's impatient tone. The normally calm boy didn't snap easily. Hayato knew he had crossed a line and glumly, but quietly went back to work.

* * *

Somehow, in half an hour, Daisuke and Love managed to anger each other four times. Currently, they were arguing which brand of toothpaste was better, which Miyuki privately thought was completely stupid and useless discussion.

"Gosh, will you stop?" Setsuna laughed after the duo had debated about toothpaste for three minutes.

"If they can't decide on the smallest things, how can they decide on the huge things?" Inori wondered.

"They can compromise." Miki suggested. "They can get along with each other very well if they want. Evidently," she glanced at Love and Daisuke. "This is not one of the times."

"Well if _your_ brand of toothpaste is better," Love snarked. "Then _why_ do my teeth shine brighter than yours?"

Daisuke actually collapsed on the sofa in laughter when he saw Love's manic grin, showing all her teeth. And he began to choke on thin air, which was quite an impossible feat.

"Stop." Daisuke laughed weakly, rolling around on the sofa. "Stop _that_."

"What's that?" Love asked teasingly, perching on the edge of the sofa.

"Stop doing your crazy grin." Daisuke continued to laugh, nearly rolling off the sofa.

"Why?" Love asked, swinging her legs.

"Cause it makes you look ugly." Daisuke answered bluntly. _But still a bit cute…_ He prepared himself for a cushion about to be launched at him.

"Hey!" Love snapped, slapping Daisuke with a cushion. The boy sprawled out all over the sofa.

"You. Are. So. Mean!" Love yelled, punctuating each word with a slap from the heavily abused cushion. Daisuke yelped with each slap.

"Ouch, stop it." he groaned, rubbing his back. Deep down, he knew that he _did_ deserve that… Love bit back a grin, he looked hilarious twitching.

Love sniffed arrogantly, threw the cushion on his head, then strode away.

Miyuki looked at her brother, a bit embarrassed for him. _Well THAT was entertaining…_ She yanked the cushion of his head. "Come on, get up Daisuke."

"I'mma dead…" the boy mumbled, raising an arm but letting it flop back lifelessly.

"Whoa! Is that Miyuki's room?" Love screamed excitedly somewhere in the corridor.

"Come on." Miyuki tugged on Daisuke's arm. Grudgingly, the boy sat up, his brown hair a mess. "So uncool." he muttered, running his hands through his hair in an attempt to smooth it.

Meanwhile, Love was sprawled out on Miyuki's bed contently. Miki, Inori and Setsuna watched awkwardly.

"W-what just happened?" Miyuki asked, sweatdropping.

Miki sighed. "Everytime she visits someone's room, the first thing she does is to lie down on their bed."

"Ahh! This is so soft!" Love cried, waving her hands around as if she was making a snow angel.

"You do that everytime." Inori pointed out.

"Really?" both Miyuki and Setsuna raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, it's kinda springy too." Love began to bounce on Miyuki's bed.

"Love," Setsuna said seriously to her sister. "You can't do that."

"It's okay, I don't mind." Miyuki smiled. When Daisuke was younger, he also liked to bounce on beds. _They_ are _similar_.

Daisuke was wandering outside, occasionally glancing out the window. A huge furry figure caught his attention.

"Whoa! What is that giant furball doing here?" he exclaimed loudly.

* * *

An alarm started to beep loudly back in the heart of Labyrinth. Hayato jumped in shock, then yelled, "Breakout!"

The lights in the room began to flash. Shun silently walked to a computer and stopped the beeping. He pressed a file and frowned when he read the details of the Nakewameke breakout.

"Okay, Hayato, we can go to Clover Town."

"Yay!" Hayato grinned like a young child given candy. Shun narrowed his eyes. "This is business. Be serious!"

"Yes sir!" Hayato saluted. Shun rolled his eyes, then they teleported to Clover Town.

* * *

Everybody dashed out of Miyuki's room when they heard Daisuke's yell. Love's hand was already reaching to her phone. "What furball?" she yelled.

Daisuke pointed at the silhouette shown in the window. "I think we should go out to get a better look."

Miyuki led the others outside and they all stared open-mouthed at what Daisuke called a "furball".

Love, Miki, Inori and Setsuna blinked. The figure was deep pink, covered with a grey mist. A grey diamond was on its forehead. Its beady eyes stared stupidly at them.

"That's not a furball, Daisuke! That's a wig Nakewameke!" Love scolded the boy.

"Eh? It's a _wig_?" Daisuke continued to stare at the unmoving Nakewameke. "Still a furball to me."

"That's a wig made by my dad and Love's dad for pets." Inori explained.

"So, girls! Let's transform!" Love yelled, they all pulled out their phones. Daisuke and Miyuki backed away to give them more space.

Suddenly, a _poof!_ took them by surprise. "Eh?" Everybody yelped.

Miki felt her hair. "My hair!" she wailed.

The wig Nakewameke had changed all of their hairstyles! Miyuki's pink hair was now down to her waist and slightly wavy, Inori's hair deepened to brown and had cat ears. Miki's hair was now short and up to her shoulders. Setsuna had light purple hair in a braid and twisted in a bun.

Daisuke took one look at Love, and for the second time that night he burst out in uncontrollable laughter. "Just.. look… at… you!" he managed to get out.

"You look hilarious too!" Love retorted. Daisuke's hair was wavy and drooping over his forehead. It looked like a clump of seaweed.

"You hair looks like _poop_!" Daisuke clutched his stomach in laughter.

"That's extremely offensive." Love glared at Daisuke, hands crossed in front of her chest.

"No, I mean literally poop!" The other girls started to laugh too.

"What?" Love's hands scrambled to her hair anxiously. Her hazel hair was styled like poop- _ahem,_ human waste. And due to the colour of her hair it did somewhat resemble poop.

Love glared angrily at them. "Well, it's not my fault that my hair turned into poop!"

"Oh look! It's Hayato and Shun!" Setsuna called.

As the two neared, they could see that their hairstyles had changed too.

Hayato's hair was deep red and spiky like a rock star. Shun was feeling deeply conscious that his normally long hair was now cut short. The wind blew past his neck, ruffling his short hair. He avoided eye contact with everyone.

"Ha! This hairstyle suits me!" Hayato bragged. Then his light blue eyes met Setsuna's red eyes.

"Oh… hi, Setsuna." Hayato said in awe, looking at her new hairstyle.

"Hi." Setsuna replied awkwardly. She noticed that Hayato's face resembled one of an adorable puppy. _He looks cool with that hairstyle…_

The two continued to oogle each other. Suddenly, Shun burst out into uncharacteristically loud laughter, then quickly slapping his hand over his mouth. Neither Setsuna or Hayato noticed him. Miki gave him a look, then cringed. _Aww! He's got short hair too. He looks better with long hair… not that I think he is good looking._ Miki blushed.

Daisuke ruined the moment by screaming, "Ah! Furball incoming!" The Nakewameke was about crash his house. Setsuna and Hayato quickly looked away from each other, blushing.

No longer distracted by their wacky hairstyles, Love and the others changed into Pretty Cure and saved the Chinen house in the nick of time. Hayato and Shun also switched over to their Labyrinth forms. Unfortunately for Shun, that did not change his hairstyle back to its original form.

"Ooh yeah! This is so cool!" Daisuke pumped his fist in the air excitedly. Miyuki just smiled at the Cures.

Cure Berry was extremely glad that her hair was back to it's normal length. But now she had other things to worry about. The Nakewameke was stronger than ever, and strands of the giant wig lashed out at them.

She could see the other Cures were teaming up to punch the grey diamond, which was its weak spot. But she was on the other side of the Nakewameke, avoiding the strands which were attacking her.

Berry did a backflip and landed on the ground, and without missing a beat she zoomed to the left to avoid the Nakewameke's attacks. Meanwhile, she heard the other Cures hitting the diamond, but that wasn't enough to defeat the monster.

Berry gritted her teeth and tried to kick the Nakewameke. _I am Cure Berry, and I am perfect!_ Then she suddenly remembered that this Nakewameke was too soft and fluffy and it could endure all of their attacks. While she hesitated, one of the strands slapped Berry, making her lose her balance. Her blue eye widened in surprise, and as she fell down, she muttered, "I guess I'm not perfect after all…"

Meanwhile, Soular spun around and avoided one of the strands hitting him. Suddenly, he saw a blue figure falling. _Berry!_

It was as if everything focused on her. Soular ignored everyone, and sprinted towards the falling girl. He leapt up and caught Berry safely in his arms, bridal style.

Berry prepared herself for impact. She didn't expect to land in Soular's arms. "What…" she gasped, staring into his green eyes. Soular had a tiny smirk on his face, and Berry felt like she melted. _I was wrong… he looks handsome no matter what hairstyle he has!_

Meanwhile, Cure Pine purified the Nakewameke using Healing Prayer Fresh.

"Yay! I'm going to have my original hairstyle again!" Cure Peach cheered. "That poop hairstyle looks so _ugly_!"

"That hairstyle looks great on you," Westar murmured to Cure Passion. She smiled back bashfully, cheeks pink.

Soular put Berry down gently. The girl was still in a daze. It was like a fairytale- the beautiful princess was saved by the handsome prince from a hideous monster.

"Are you okay?" Soular asked Berry gently.

"I-I'm fine." Berry blushed and turned away. She wasn't easy to fall for someone, let alone an ex-enemy who was devastatingly handsome.

The girls changed back to their civilian forms. So did Westar and Soular. They were all delighted that their hairstyles were back to normal. (Except for Hayato because he thought his spiky hair looked cooler, and Setsuna looked a lot more beautiful. Not that she wasn't beautiful before. He'll have to mention it to her.)

Miyuki and Daisuke were a bit embarrassed that a gang of people were outside their house. Graciously, they invited everyone inside.

"I have never been so glad to have my ordinary pigtails!" Love exclaimed for the sixth time. (Yes, Shun counted.)

"You said that for like the hundredth time tonight." Daisuke deadpanned. Shun was sure that Daisuke didn't know how to count, but then remembered that humans liked to exaggerate a lot.

Daisuke then grinned, and pulled one of Love's pigtails teasingly. She immediately whipped her head, her other pigtail nearly whipping Daisuke's face. "Hey!" she pouted, narrowing her eyes at Daisuke. He just smiled innocently at her.

He went for her pigtails again and Love turned around, crossing her arms and still pouting.

Daisuke decided that Love looked especially cute when she was pouting. His hand closed on one of her pigtails. Love turned back and glared at Daisuke. "Stop that."

"No." Daisuke stared back seriously at her.

Everyone was watching their little friendly argument with amusement and interest.

"Why?" Love retorted with suspicion.

"Because you look cute when you pout." Daisuke answered honestly. Then he froze and realized what he just said. His facial expression was basically screaming, "Dammit, I messed everything up!"

Love just stared at Daisuke. He stubbornly avoided her gaze. "Ookay…"

Miyuki groaned softly. "Only my brother could manage to flirt with a girl two times in a single night. And I've _never_ seen him flirt before."

"What?" Hayato asked loudly. Then he continued quietly, "Uh, he flirted with Peach?"

"You could say so." Miyuki muttered back.

Hayato grinned. It was Daisuke: 1, Akio: 0.

* * *

When the girls decided to discuss about what Daisuke and Hayato described as "girly stuff", the boys decided to have a talk themselves.

"So, you invited girls to your house." Shun said.

Daisuke slapped a hand to his forehead. "How many times do I have to say it? My _sister_ invited them. I was just acting as her brother."

"And Peach's best boy friend." Hayato supplied not-so-helpfully.

Daisuke and Shun gave Hayato a really weird look. "Nobody told me they're dating." Shun said.

"Oh!" From their confused faces, Hayato figured it out that he said the wrong thing. "I mean best _male_ friend." he corrected awkwardly. "You are her best male friend, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." Daisuke answered. Them his fists clenched tightly. "If anyone else was, I'll punch them outta my way."

"Ooh protective big-brother mode." Hayato nodded. "You _do_ like her. A lot."

"Just shut up." Daisuke growled.

"Denial!" Hayato and Shun sang.

"You're totally ahead of Akio now." Hayato said. "You've been friends with Love longer than Akio's been with her."

"Of course." Daisuke stared in front of him determinedly. "I've known her for around ten years. This Blondie kid? A week?"

"You don't have to worry that much," Shun patted Daisuke on the shoulder. "You two are just meant to be."

Daisuke just shrugged. "Hmm." To switch the topic, he asked, "Hayato, do you like Setsuna?"

"Eh? No! Why would I like her?" Hayato stammered. "I mean, I _do_ like her, just not romantically!"

By now Shun and Daisuke were giving Hayato nearly identical sly smirks.

"I think she likes you too." Daisuke said. "She was also staring at you."

"Nah." Hayato folded his arms, ignoring his peers.

"And also," Daisuke said, turning to Shun. "Even though I would _never_ betray my friend Yuki, I'll have to admit that Miki _might_ like you."

"Oh, really?" Shun murmured, purposely ignoring Daisuke.

"Still," Hayato concluded. "I think we're ahead of Akio."

* * *

In the Mikoshiba Mansion, the young heir sat alone in his room, thinking deeply.

Even though it was Daisuke's sister who invited the girls, Daisuke still cooked for them. He was a part in the dinner.

And that inspired Kento to do something else. He quietly picked up a phone book next to him and flipped through the pages until he found the number he wanted.

After dialing the number, Kento held the phone to his ear.

"Hello. Mikoshiba Kento here…"

* * *

 **A/N: _QueenSun_ , thanks for your review! Love and Daisuke are my favourite couple too. I'm sorry _Guess_ , I won't answer your suspicions yet. You can find out later. ;) _Coolagain_ , they are in civilain forms. I know some say Shun's hair is black in civilian form, but it looks dark grey to me. To prevent any more confusion, I will describe Shun's hair as dark grey and I will tell you when they change into Labyrinth forms. Sorry for the confusion, and thank you for pointing out that mistake. Thanks for all of your reviews! **

**Ideas for oneshots concerning any ship are welcome! Please read and review!**


	4. First Date

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. Except for my OC Akio and another OC that will make an appearance in this chapter...**

* * *

The day after the girls visited Miyuki's house, Daisuke and Yuki immediately noticed that something was wrong with Kento.

"Hey, earth to Kento!" Yuki waved a hand in front of Kento. The taller boy blinked and stared at Yuki, broken out of his trance. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I miss anything?"

Both Daisuke and Yuki were concerned about Kento. "You just spaced out." Daisuke said. "Are you sick?"

"I'm fine." Kento waved a hand and smiled at them. Even with that, the boys weren't convinced.

All three of them were walking to school. Yuki kept pestering Daisuke with details of the dinner, Daisuke kept dodging his questions, and Kento just shut himself off from the world.

On the way to school, they saw Love and her friends. Even though they all attend different schools, there was a part of the road that they had to walk together.

Love waved energetically goodbye at Miki and Inori. Kento stared wistfully at Inori's retreating backside. Unknown to him, Daisuke was also staring at Love.

Yuki noticed the silence and glared at his friends. "Okay, okay, stop staring!"

Daisuke and Kento came back to life. "I wasn't staring!" Daisuke said in a futile attempt to defend himself.

"Yeah, we know." Kento and Yuki deadpanned, obviously knowing Daisuke was lying.

Then they saw Akio, and Daisuke's eyes immediately narrowed. Akio was surrounded by girls, girls and more girls. The only two girls in the area who didn't surround Akio were Love and one of the most popular girls of the grade, Kurosawa Tsubasa.

Love was humming quietly to herself, lost in her own world. She didn't even notice Akio.

Tsubasa, on the other hand, noticed Akio. But with a flick of her short red hair, she walked faster and was out of sight. She wasn't like the other giggly girls.

"Tsubasa seems to dislike Akio as much as you dislike him, Daisuke." Kento observed. "She didn't even talk to him."

Love was happily replaying scenes of the dinner in her head. She tried hard to forget her own poop hairstyle, but she laughed at Daisuke's seaweed wig.

Everything was perfect, but Love had a sinking suspicion that she forgot something.

A couple of boys walked past her. One was moaning, "I'm definitely going to fail the Math test today!"

"That's only because you don't do your homework, you copy it from someone else." Another boy replied. "You never learn."

Love froze in her steps, as the boys continued to walk ahead. _That's_ what she forgot! Her Maths homework!

If she didn't finish her homework, her mother would be angry, and would probably forbid her from eating doughnuts as a punishment.

Love suddenly remembered that her mother was going to bake cookies today. She was _definitely_ not going to let her eat them.

Love could almost picture her mother scolding her. And assigning a lot more different chores for her to do.

She turned around and saw Daisuke and the boys walking. _My_ _saviour!_ Her eyes lit up and she dashed to Daisuke.

"Daisuke!" she sang. He stared at her blankly. She grabbed his shoulders with an urgency that surprised him.

"Have you finished your Maths homework?" she demanded, shaking his shoulders.

"Of course I did…" Daisuke said, not getting why she was asking him. Then his eyes narrowed. "Ah ha, you haven't finished your homework!"

Love really couldn't hide anything from him. "Yeah, I forgot to do it." she muttered, releasing his shoulders. "So will you please-"

"No, I won't let you copy." Daisuke replied automatically. Love pouted.

"Please Daisuke?" she tried to make her eyes as big as possible.

 _No! Not the puppy eyes!_ Daisuke bit his lip and tried to look at any place but her eyes. He looked at Kento and Yuki for advice, but they just shook their heads.

Daisuke sighed. "Okay, fine-"

"Yay!" Love cheered, grabbed Daisuke's arm and ran off, nearly yanking his arm out of his socket.

"Whoa! Wait a second!" Daisuke looked apologetically at his friends. They just gave him sympathetic looks. _Some friends you two are,_ Daisuke thought, Love continuing to drag him to the school.

"Love! You you don't have to be this fast!" Daisuke yelled. "We can slip easily! They just shoveled the snow away!"

"I don't care! This is an emergency!" Love yelled back. She expertly slid across the ground, pulling Daisuke with her. He yelped and he nearly tripped.

At this point, they ran past Tsubasa, who just said mildly, "Are they flirting again?" She was used to their crazy antics.

With the school in sight, Love smiled and released Daisuke's arm. They stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

"It's a miracle that we didn't trip," Daisuke panted.

"Come on! We still have to get to the classroom." Love grinned, still full of energy.

"Really?" Daisuke groaned. A cold wind swept past them. He shivered, rubbing his hands together.

"Are you just going to stand there and freeze?" Love teased. She took his hand and continued to drag him up the stairs.

Daisuke froze for a moment when she took his hand. A thousand thoughts filled his mind, and despite the cold weather he felt his cheeks heat up.

Then he saw Love looking at him oddly. "Hey, you alright?"

"I-I'm fine!" Daisuke stuttered. He looked away, his face a bit red. "But honestly, it's just homework-"

"It's important!" Love hollered, and tried to drag Daisuke up the stairs. He stood there firmly.

"If it's that important, then why didn't you finish it at home?" Daisuke retorted smugly.

Love really didn't have an answer for that. "Geez, just come on!" she grumbled.

When they arrived at the empty classroom, Love would have pounced on Daisuke's schoolbag if he didn't whisk it away. She frantically copied his homework, her handwriting becoming messier and messier.

"Remember that you can't exactly copy everything I wrote. The teacher will be suspicious." Daisuke reminded. One time when they were younger, Love copied Daisuke's homework and unfortunately made the mistake of copying everything, and the teacher scolded them for copying homework. They never made that foolish mistake again.

"Got it!" Love said without looking up from her work. "You're a lifesaver!"

Daisuke grinned. "Thanks." He was secretly very ecstatic that Love appreciated him.

At this point Tsubasa walked in, frowning. Almost every single girl she met on the way was squealing about Akio, which annoyed her to no end. She didn't understand what was so interesting about him. Surely the girls weren't _that_ shallow, just to take interest in his admittedly good looks.

She looked up to see Love copying Daisuke's homework. Daisuke was not-so-subtly studying Love's actions. Like the rest of the class, and possibly the whole form, she knew that Daisuke had a major crush on Love. Tsubasa fought the urge to roll her eyes. _Will those two idiots just get together?_

Kento and Yuki arrived at school together, just in time to see Love finish copying, and in the act of hugging Daisuke in gratitude. "Thanks thanks _thanks_ a lot!" she squealed, nearly squeezing the life out of him. Daisuke didn't seem to care, he just smiled and patted her head awkwardly.

All the surrounding classmates smirked in unison. Kento was the only one who didn't smirk, he just watched the duo with a wistful smile on his face.

 _They're just adorable together._ Kento thought.

* * *

Two days later, Kento woke up extra early for school. The mansion was a small distance away from Clover Town, and Kento walked to school everyday. He didn't want to travel in an expensive car as he didn't want to be a show-off.

He took extra care in combing his hair, straightened his tie and stood up straighter. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, and his determined expression looked back at him.

Today was the day the quiet Mikoshiba Kento asks a girl out.

* * *

"Are you okay dude?" Daisuke asked Kento, patting his back. Kento had been so absorbed in his thoughts, he flinched at the contact.

That was the question Daisuke and Yuki had been asking since a couple days ago. They noticed that Kento was quieter than ever, and he had a serious expression on his face. Kento refused to answer. That did not stop the stubborn boys from pestering him.

"You have the same expression as Daisuke when he was planning to ask Love out," Yuki commented. Then both he and Daisuke's eyes widened. "Wait, you're not-"

"Shh!" Kento frantically clamped a hand over their mouths, seeing Tsubasa was nearby. If it got out he would die from embarrassment.

"Ohh." Daisuke and Yuki had the same creepy smirk. Yuki leaned closer to Kento. "Hey, you're asking out Yamabuki Inori right?"

"Just-just stop!" Kento whispered, waving his hands as if that would ward off Yuki.

"Ha." Daisuke grinned. "I knew it."

"But it's not like you haven't asked her out before." Yuki said. "You invited her to your cruise ship party."

"As friends." Kento corrected.

"Technically, you invited the girl you like to a party. That's called a date, Kento." Daisuke deadpanned.

"Okay, whatever you say." Kento sighed. Then he began to panic. "But this is official. What if she refuses?"

"No. She's not that kind of person." Yuki replied.

"So says the one Miki refused to go out with." Daisuke squinted at Yuki.

"So says the one whose crush refused to answer him." Yuki retorted.

Daisuke glared at him for a second, before focusing on Kento. "Kento, you really don't have to worry. She's nice enough not to refuse you."

"If she refuses, we can do that group date thingy again!" Yuki patted Kento's shoulder. "No worries!"

Kento gave them a weak smile. "Thanks guys." But no matter what they said, he just couldn't stop worrying.

* * *

After school, Love met Miki and Inori at the doughnut café.

"Anything interesting that happened today?" Miki asked as she sat down.

"My classmates all know about Akio now." Inori said.

"Mine too." Miki said. "Everyone was giggling about him too."

"The girls at our school are going crazy over him." Love commented.

"Does that include you?" Miki asked knowingly.

A blush filled Love's cheeks. "Of course not." she replied, but not even knowing if she was lying or not.

Meanwhile, Daisuke, Yuki and Kento walked to doughnut café, Kento especially nervous. He was jittery that he was basically bouncing with each step. Daisuke and Yuki thought that they had never seen him so nervous.

When the girls came into view, Kento stopped and took a deep breath. His friends crossed fingers behind their backs, silently praying.

"Oh, hi!" Love waved enthusiastically at the trio. Somehow, that did not make Kento feel any better. Miki and Inori waved politely at them.

An awkward silence followed. Kento didn't say anything. Daisuke glared at Kento, who translated the glare as " _JUST DO IT!_ " with a desperate tone to it.

 _Okay. It's now or never._

"Miss Yamabuki, would you like to go out with me?"

The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Miki had to hold Love so she wouldn't scream loudly. Kento bit his lip and suddenly looked scared. Inori was frozen, but her heart was pounding loudly inside her.

 _Did he just ask me out?!_ Inori thought, slightly horrified. She had no idea what to do. She forced herself to look at Kento.

She remembered that he invited her to the cruise ship party. He wasn't bad, in fact Inori thought Kento was calm and gentle.

"Uh-uh…" Inori stammered, her cheeks heating up for no reason. Her lips seemed to be unable to form words in shock.

"Yes." she finally said quietly, not daring to look at anyone. Everyone collectively sighed in relief.

"On one condition." Kento looked up in alarm. _What would she want?_

Inori smiled at him. "Don't call me Miss Yamabuki. That sounds too formal. Inori is fine."

"Okay." Kento grinned widely. He felt like the happiest person on Earth. It was as if everything around him was singing "Joy to the World".

"Am I allowed to speak now?" Love whispered loudly. Without waiting for an answer, she squealed loudly, "OH MY GOSH! Aww this is too cute! I knew it since Kento invited Buki to that cruise ship party!"

Everybody stared at Love weirdly. "Calm down." Miki ordered the hyper girl. Love continued to scream shrilly. With an amused expression, Daisuke shoved a doughnut into Love's mouth. She calmed down immediately, choosing to chew the doughnut instead of screaming. Daisuke patted her head as if she was an obedient puppy.

As Inori and Kento discussed the date's details, Yuki decided the beginning the conversation with, "Well."

"It's nice to see Kento go a bit out of his comfort zone." Daisuke said, smiling at Inori and Kento.

"Yup, definitely a change." Love agreed. Her eyes widened suddenly. "Oh, hi Akio!" she waved energetically at the boy who was just passing by. Daisuke and Yuki craned their necks to glare at Akio, who was smiling at the girls charmingly. Daisuke turned to see Love swooning over Akio, staring at him with dreamy eyes. Daisuke scowled, as he opened his mouth to say something rude, Yuki swiped a doughnut from the table and stuffed it inside Daisuke's mouth, efficiently stopping him from yelling. Miki looked at Daisuke with a half-amused smile, remembering the same tactic that was used only moments earlier. Daisuke was slightly annoyed that Love still chose to look at Akio. Yuki shrugged, saying casually, "If the doughnut thing worked on Love, it would work on Daisuke. You two are so similar."

"Hey, why does everyone say that?" Love squinted at Yuki. "Setsuna said that too!"

"Well because you two _are_ similar. Maybe that's why you get along so easily." Miki said.

"You two are similar, yet so different." Yuki thought out loud, only to have three pairs of eyes staring at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Love asked, Daisuke nodding in agreement.

"I guess you two are similar because both of you are stubborn, selfless and like to help others, but also different because Love expresses her feelings clearly…" Miki began.

"And Daisuke tends to hide them." Yuki finished. He gave Daisuke an infuriating smile, reminding him that it took Daisuke years to confess to Love. Still chewing the doughnut, Daisuke glared at Yuki.

Daisuke swallowed the doughnut and snapped at Yuki, "Shaddup."

"I didn't even say anything." Yuki grinned, delighted.

* * *

The date was scheduled at 4 pm, and six hours prior Inori began to freak out.

"What should I wear?" she wailed at Miki and Love, who went over to her house to calm her down. Miki patted her shoulder. "The date is six hours from now…"

"I don't care! I'm freaking out right now!" Inori took a deep breath. Miki and Love shared a glance. If their normally quiet friend was behaving like this, she must be really frustrated.

Miki sighed. "Just calm down. Everything's going to be perfect."

"Yeah!" Love grinned widely. "This is totally going to be _awesome_!"

"I'm so anxious!" Inori peeped, running her hands through her hair. Miki stopped her. "That would only ruin your hair."

Inori's lip trembled. "B-but… I'm not as fashionable or as pretty as Miki, and I'm not as friendly or as confident as Love."

Love gave an exaggerated sigh. "Buki, stop comparing yourself to others. We're all special in our own way. Just be yourself."

"I-I guess so." Inori smiled at them.

* * *

Kento was pacing in his room. A determined expression was on his face. Suddenly, his phone rang, which gave Kento a huge shock. Instantly, he wondered if it was Inori having cold feet… he shook his head. How could he be so pessimistic?

"Hello?" Kento asked, picking up the phone.

"Hey?" Daisuke's voice asked. "You okay dude?"

"Of course I'm fine." Kento answered. There was some commotion on the other end. Kento could hear Yuki screeching, "Hey! It's my turn Daisuke!"

"YO KENTO!" Yuki boomed. Kento held the phone from his ear as if it was a poisonous snake. After a few seconds, he cautiously put it back to his ear. "Hello?"

"Sorry Kento!" Yuki apologized sheepishly. "I was angry with Daisuke. He's not letting me use his phone."

"That's fine." Kento smiled. Somehow talking with his friends made him feel better.

"And just to tell you, it's normal to have pre-date jitters!" Yuki declared. "Perfectly normal!"

"Oh." Kento didn't really have a reply for that. He _did_ remember an anxious Yuki pacing before asking out Miki, and Daisuke near to freaking out when he was about to ask Love out.

"Also just be yourself! My sister says girls like that!" Apparently Daisuke had snatched the phone back.

"Wait, when did you start asking your sister for love advice?" Kento asked, wanting to switch the topic.

"She just said that to me!" Daisuke exclaimed angrily. "I didn't _ask_ her or anything."

"Wow, then you must really need advice if Miyuki was willing to give you some without you asking." Yuki drawled, slightly muffled.

"Just shut up!" And Daisuke and Yuki began to argue among themselves. Kento sighed. _They are pretty childish…_

"Oy! Aren't we supposed to give Kento advice?" Daisuke said after a minute or so arguing with Yuki. Kento laughed.

"Uh, I think I'm fine. Thanks for calling anyway." Kento said, then ended the call. He looked out at the window and took a deep breath to calm himself.

* * *

"So this is the place?" Inori asked, looking at the wooden sign decorated with flowers.

"Yeah." Kento replied. The two were standing outside a small comfy café. There was a wooden awning with vines and flowers intertwined on top of them. The café gave off a comforting aura, and Inori and Kento instantly felt at home.

"Wow! This is so cute!" Inori cooed at the cat pawprints leading to the door. "You said this is a cat café, right?"

"Yeah…" Kento answered, wondering if that was the only word he was capable to make. "Let's go in." He said and opened the door, and the door hit a bell dangling from the ceiling, and it rang, signalling the staff that customers were here.

"This is amazing, Kento!" Inori exclaimed as they stepped on the welcome mat. The café had big glass windows that let natural light in, the tables were made out of wood and the sofas looked comfy. A ceiling fan spun slowly above them, and flowerpots hung from the ceiling.

But its most important feature was the sheer amount of cats! Cats slept in baskets, played with balls of yarn, or yawned lazily at the newcomers. Some customers were taking photos with cats, waitresses were introducing cats or feeding them. Almost instantly, Inori's eyes lit up, and Kento knew he'd done the right thing.

"I've wanted to go to this cat café, but it's usually so crowded!" Inori gasped, eyes shining like stars. "Thanks for booking a seat, Kento!"

"No problem." Kento grinned. They carefully made their way across the floor to their seats, avoiding the cats on the floor. On their table was a large grey fluffy cat, who stared at them grumpily. Kento gulped.

"Aw, such a cute cat!" Inori said, stroking its fur. It purred loudly, then jumped off the table and sauntered away.

"Cats are just adorable, aren't they?" Inori asked Kento. He nodded overly eagerly.

 _Damn,_ Kento thought. _I'm more of a dog person than a cat person, but since she likes cats we should go to this place._

"They say the Persian breed of cats are the most popular, but personally I like tabby cats. Which breed of cats do you like the most?" Inori asked him, smiling.

Kento had no idea what she was talking about, even with his extensive knowledge. "Oh, umm, I don't have a favourite. They're all equally cute." He fibbed.

"That's nice." Inori said, looking at the menu. Kento also looked at his menu. There was an awkward silence between them, as no one knew what to say.

After ordering their food, they settled in an uncomfortable silence again. Kento twitched slightly. Inori toyed with the hem of her skirt.

Kento stared at the table, his eyes tracing the lines in the wood. _Come on Kento! You should say something! Man up!_

He cleared his throat, making Inori look at him expectantly. "Umm…uhh… since you seem to like animals, do you like dogs?" He blurted, and instantly regretted it. _This is a cat café! Why should I be talking about_ dogs _, of all things?!_

"Of course I like dogs!" Inori replied. "I like all kinds of animals." The girl paused for a moment, wondering if she should tell Kento a story. "You know, I used to be scared of ferrets."

"Really?" Kento asked, interested. "You don't seem like the type to be scared of animals." _As opposed to me_ , Kento supplied dryly in his mind.

"Tarte helped me to overcome that fear." Inori said. "By the way, now I mention him, I really miss him."

"Tarte? Your mascot or something? The one who referred himself as a 'cute cute fairy from the Kingdom of Sweets', right?"

Inori giggled at the thought. "Yup. One day, a Nakewameke switched our bodies." Kento's eyebrows jerked up in surprise. "Originally, I was scared of Tarte and he thought I was weird. But when changed bodies, we learnt to come together. So I got rid of my fear of ferrets."

As they talked, they gradually warmed up to each other. Kento decided to get out of his comfort zone and stroked a cat. It purred loudly in response. Inori got out her Kirun and translated for him.

"It must be nice to be able to communicate with animals." Kento mentioned.

"Yes. My Dad says it's important to be able to understand animals to be a vet." Inori grinned.

"Well, my father says it's important to communicate with people for me to be his heir." Kento mused. Over the date, they had discovered similarities between them. Both wanted to follow in their parents' footsteps, and trying hard to meet their parents' expectations. Both were generally quiet and shy people, and they loved reading.

They talked about themselves, their hobbies and their friends, and their friends' romantic interests.

"Daisuke really likes her." Kento told Inori. They had agreed to never tell their friends about this talk.

"I could see that." Inori tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Love is fond of him as well, but most likely in a sisterly way than a romantic way."

"That's sad." Kento sighed. "Love only treats him as a friend, while Daisuke treats her as, well you know, as his crush."

"In other words, he's in the 'friendzone'." Inori had heard the phrase from Love who had been ranting about a couple from her school. She still wasn't sure how to use it.

Kento felt slightly guilty about talking about Daisuke behind his back, but then it was for his own good. Inori felt the same, but honestly, if they don't get together soon, she'll have to take some drastic measures… even though she was a quiet person, she also had her limits.

* * *

In the Labyrinth headquarters, Shun detected a virus entering the computer system. He frantically made efforts to stop the virus.

Hayato and Setsuna were filming a cooking show. It was Setsuna's idea to teach everyone how to cook via television. It was very popular among the ladies of Labyrinth, mostly because of Hayato's good looks. Setsuna didn't know why she felt slightly annoyed every time she saw some girl swooning over Hayato. Maybe it was their silliness that irritated her.

Suddenly, red lights began flashing in the headquarters. Hayato and Setsuna dashed out of the kitchen, still wearing their aprons and saw Shun trying to detect the Nakewameke outbreak and fight the virus at the same time. Hayato glided across the room and pressed a button to stop the lights from flashing. "Hey, it's a Nakewameke."

"Obviously." Shun said, busily typing on the keyboard.

"Shun," Setsuna offered. "Why don't you stay here? Hayato and I can go to check it out."

"That'll be nice, thanks." Shun replied gratefully.

"Onward ho!" Hayato boomed. "Where is this pesky Nakewameke? I, Nishi Hayato, shall defeat it!" Hayato pumped his fist in the air dramatically. Shun and Setsuna both rolled their eyes at his attempt to sound manly.

"It's near a couple of shops in Clover Town." Setsuna said. "Come on, let's teleport there!"

* * *

Back in the café, Inori and Kento felt a sudden shake. The ground shook again, rattling the plates and cups.

"Is it an earthquake?" Kento asked, alarmed.

Through the huge glass windows, Inori saw a gigantic dog stomping on the street. "It's a Nakewameke! Kento, stay here and be safe!" A hand to her phone, she leapt out of her seat and dashed out of the shop.

Kento looked between Inori and the Nakewameke, and without hesitation he ran after Inori. "Wait!"

Inori stood in front of the Nakewameke. It was a familiar dog, with pointed eyes and the tips of its ears and tail are dark red. The diamond on its forehead was grey, and the dog was clouded with grey mist.

"Lucky!" Inori gasped in horror. She was so shocked that she was frozen, eyes wide.

Out of nowhere, two figures punched the grey diamond. It was Peach and Berry! A red figure also appeared along with a flying man in a cloak. Passion and Westar had arrived.

Something snapped inside Inori. "No!" she yelled, running towards the Nakewameke. She stepped between the Nakewameke and the Cures. "Don't hurt him!"

"Buki!" The girls gasped. Westar looked down at her, mildly interested. The Nakewameke let out a fearsome growl, showing its sharp teeth.

"Buki! This isn't Lucky! This is only a shadow of the Nakewameke!" Peach yelled.

Meanwhile, Kento finally caught up with Inori. He grabbed her wrist and they stared into each other's eyes, shocked. "What are you doing here?" they asked in unison.

Kento answered first. "I'm just… worried about you…"

"Ooh!" Peach squealed, instantly forgetting that she was a Pretty Cure. "Is this a new development?" Berry and Passion sweatdropped.

"You have to go back to stay safe…" Inori said softly.

Even Westar was staring at Inori and Kento. "Ahh…!" He cried, eyes shimmering. Yup, Westar was a huge sap.

The Nakewameke ruined this moment by pouncing at the Cures. They zoomed away.

"Lucky! You have to listen to me!" Inori yelled frantically, following the Nakewameke. She ignored Kento yelling at her to come back. Inori shoved Kento away, much to his shock. He fell down and scratched his arm.

"Inori!" he stood up helplessly as the girl chased after the Nakewameke. He sighed and prayed that she was safe.

"Lucky!" Inori yelled. "You're not a monster! You're nice and kind! Don't let this beast take over you!"

The Nakewameke roared and tried to bat away Inori. Passion stepped in front of her to stop the attack, nearly getting hurt by the process.

"Will you just transform?" Westar asked, exasperated. He was watching the two girls from above. He was getting fidgety by not attacking.

"No!" Inori said firmly. She stared at the Nakewameke in the eye. "I'm going to do this by myself."

"Lucky!" she yelled. "Remember the times you would play with your owner? Remember the times you would bark joyfully? Remember the times when your worried owner would take you to the vet to heal you? He must really care about you, and I bet he's really sad now, seeing his precious friend in this state!"

"Buki!" Peach and Berry muttered worriedly. They had faith in their friend, but they should keep her safe! Besides, she didn't even transform, so she would have no way to defend herself.

The Nakewameke's eyes twitched. It was considering what Inori said, but then it decided to ignore her. It stepped backwards slowly, about to run forward to attack her.

The Cures and Westar were about to jump out to protect their friend, but a quiet voice behind them said, "Stop."

They whirled around in astonishment. "Kento!" Peach exclaimed, her movements freezing.

The boy was walking towards them with a serene expression on his face. He looked like he wasn't even a bit worried about Inori.

"She can deal with the Nakewameke by herself." Kento said. "If anyone can calm down a ravaging animal, it would be her. She understands animals as if they are humans. Besides, you should have more faith in her, after all, her alter ego Cure Pine represents faith."

Everyone was slightly awestruck by Kento. Meanwhile, the Nakewameke was approaching Inori rapidly. She stood there determinedly, without even flinching.

"Lucky," she said softly. "Hurting me won't make you feel better! This is pointless! _Please_ turn back to normal!"

The Nakewameke stopped, cocking its head. Then it realized what Inori had said, and lowered its head shamefully.

"Now!" Inori shouted at the Cures. They were all slightly surprised and impressed, but they quickly focused back on their task.

The Nakewameke was purified. Inori sighed in relief. "Thank goodness!" She sunk to her knees in gratitude. It made her feel happier that she knew Lucky was back to normal.

Kento smiled rather proudly at her. _She really has a way with animals._

* * *

"There, you're fine now." Inori said, carefully bandaging Kento's scratched arm. He looked at her, blushing ever so slightly. "Th-there's no n-need for th-that." He stuttered.

Inori smiled sweetly at him. "It was my fault. I pushed you so I should pay for that." Her brown eyes widened. "Wait, I didn't hurt you that seriously, did !?"

"Nah." A lovestruck Kento managed to reply.

The girls and Hayato were back to their civilian forms. They were sitting in the doughnut café. Hayato was busily munching doughnuts while an amused Setsuna watched him. Love was watching Inori and Kento excitedly, Miki was restraining Love from screaming out loud.

"Oy!" Somebody yelled. A brown haired boy was running towards them, panting, with a second boy following him.

"Daisuke! Yuki!" Love waved excitedly, her hands flapping like a giant windmill. When the boys saw Kento, they rushed towards him anxiously.

"DUDE!" Yuki wheezed. "You could have DIED!"

Daisuke clung to the table for support, tired of running. "Pretty sure you're the first person I know that nearly died during his _first date_." He gasped. "The television was live-screening the whole thing."

"Don't worry, I'm fine..." Kento said awkwardly. He wasn't allowed to move as Inori was still bandaging his arm.

The boys panted for a while, and when they caught their breath Daisuke grinned, " _Soo_ , what happened?"

"Yeah, _what happened_?" Yuki drawled, smirking.

Love poked her head between Daisuke and Yuki curiously. "Hmm? Did something happen?" Daisuke looked a bit flustered that Love was so close to him.

"N-nothing!" Inori and Kento replied together, blushing slightly.

All three of them jerked their eyebrows so high that it nearly disappeared into their hair, except for Yuki, who was bald.

"We just had tea together!" Inori explained.

"And then the Nakewameke appeared!" Kento added. "It was nothing, really!"

Love, Daisuke and Yuki stared at them for a bit longer before they decided they were telling the truth.

"Thank goodness you're all right, anyway." Yuki patted Kento's shoulder.

"Mmhmm." Kento replied.

Meanwhile, Setsuna was trying to stop Hayato from buying more doughnuts. "Gah…" she said, wrapping her arms around his admittedly-muscular chest. "Stop it, Hayato! You have to learn about self-control! _Self-control_ , Hayato!"

"Please?" Hayato fixed Setsuna with his best puppy eyes stare.

Setsuna looked away. If she had looked for a bit longer, she would go soft and just let him be. "No." she said firmly.

"Aww." Hayato grumbled like a small child.

Setsuna sighed. "Besides, we still have the pancakes we made for the cooking show. Let's eat them as a snack as we go back."

"But we were in the middle of making them when we left." Hayato pointed out.

Suddenly, both Hayato and Setsuna got a feeling of dread.

"Am I…" Hayato began, sweat dripping down.

"The only one…" Setsuna continued, her body completely frozen with dread.

"Who has a bad feeling about this?" They finished together.

* * *

Shun sighed and closed his eyes, letting himself slump over his seat. He usually won't let himself rest in such an undignified posture, but beating that virus took nearly all of his energy.

Shun took a deep breath, then realized that something was strange. He opened his eyes and and saw black smoke emitting from the kitchen.

"Noo!" he groaned and quickly ran inside the kitchen, where he saw the pancakes in the pan burning. "They're going to be so mad." Shun whispered to himself.

He quickly turned the dial to turn off the stove, but he accidentally turned it in the wrong direction, sending flames roaring and he nearly burnt himself. He quickly grabbed a nearby glove and gingerly turned the stove off. Then he turned on the tap and placed his burnt hand under the cool stream of water to ease the pain.

When Shun felt better, he turned back to look at the mess. The pancakes (or what used to be pancakes) were charred and completely burnt, with the smell of burnt food everywhere.

Just then, Hayato and Setsuna teleported back. They froze when they saw the burnt pancakes, the smoke and a very tired and annoyed Shun beside the sink.

"No! My precious pancakes!" Hayato wailed like an injured dog. Setsuna just stared at the mess and smiled quietly to herself. _The pancakes may be ruined, but then, it's not everyday you see Shun act like the total opposite of himself._

* * *

 **A/N: I bet you're all so mad at me for not updating in a month. I'M SO SORRY! First I had writer's block, then I went on a trip and after that I had writer's block again…**

 **I feel like this chapter was a bit rushed. I apologize for the quality of it. I finished this on the first day of school and you know how flustered that day is… okay, no more excuses.**

 **I'm sorry** _ **Guess**_ **, it's not the Nakewameke you want, but it WILL appear in a future chapter (although it might be a long way from now) because that is seriously a too good Nakewameke to waste.** _ **Love 3**_ **and** _ **Love Story**_ **, thanks for your kind reviews! They really helped me to break out of writer's block! And** _ **Heeheel**_ **, I like your suggestion but that will be too easy for them… I've got drama and angst planned out. *cue evil laugh***

 **Ideas for oneshots concerning any ship are welcome! Please read and review!**


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